A third of Warrior Transition Unit Soldiers addicted to painkillers

Report: A Third of WTU Soldiers Addicted
January 26, 2011
UPI
A U.S. military report says up to 35 percent of the 10,000 Soldiers in Warrior Transition Units are dependent or addicted to prescription painkillers.
An Army inspector general's report released Tuesday says 25 percent to 35 percent of the Soldiers assigned to the special wound-care companies -- established after the 2007 Walter Reed Army Medical Center scandal -- "are over-medicated, abuse prescriptions and have access to illegal drugs" as they wait sometimes more than one year for a medical discharge, USA Today reported.
read more here
A Third of WTU Soldiers Addicted

also

Report: Many in wounded units ‘over-medicated’
Up to 35 percent of the 10,000 soldiers assigned to Warrior Transition Units are addicted or dependent on drugs, according to an inspector general’s report
By Gregg Zoroya - USA Today
Posted : Tuesday Jan 25, 2011 19:02:58 EST
Medical officials estimate that 25 percent to 35 percent of about 10,000 ailing soldiers assigned to special wounded-care companies or battalions are addicted or dependent on drugs — particularly prescription narcotic pain relievers, according to an Army inspector general’s report made public Tuesday.

The report also found that these formations known as Warrior Transition Units — created after reports detailed poorly managed care at Walter Reed Army Hospital — have become costly way stations where ill, injured or wounded soldiers can wait more than a year for a medical discharge.

Some soldiers have become so irate about the delays in leaving the Army that doctors, nurses and other medical staff say they have been assaulted in their offices and threatened, or had their private cars damaged or tires flattened, the report says.

“I’m very concerned about folks and their personal safety,” says Army Col. Darryl Williams, commander of Warrior Transition Units, of those specific allegations. “I’m going after that really, really hard.”
read more of this here
Many in wounded units ‘over-medicated’